The Washington Examiner’s Sarah Bedford stated Wednesday that President Joe Biden is unable to directly address voters amid public perception of him, as he cannot do so without strictly following a script.
Bedford’s analysis was in response to Biden’s low approval numbers, as many polls have indicated that people are upset over the president’s handling of various issues such as immigration and inflation. Bedford claimed that ahead of the 2024 presidential election, the Democratic Party is “paralyzed with fear” over voters’ perception of Biden and is attempting to keep Biden’s mental capability as president “under wraps.”
“Yeah, and I think the problem for this White House is that they can’t put Biden out there to address the problems that he has with how people view him on immigration or the economy because he’s not capable of interfacing with [the] public in anything outside of [a] highly scripted set piece like the State of the Union,” Bedford said on Fox Business’s Mornings with Maria Bartiromo. “The reason why there is so much focus on Joe Biden tripping up the stairs or when Joe Biden mixes up the names of world leaders when he’s speaking in these brief moments is because we don’t see him.”
Bedford’s comment comes after Biden opted to skip doing an interview for the Super Bowl, a decision criticized by many of Biden’s fellow Democrats. The president’s next scheduled address, which will be this year’s State of the Union, will be held on March 7.
Bedford also noted that Democrats swapping Biden out with another candidate for president in 2024 would not be a guaranteed success, as former President Donald Trump is “surging” in the polls. One candidate many have hypothesized could replace Biden in the 2024 election is Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA), though Bedford noted that Newsom’s approval rating in his state is only slightly higher than Biden’s approval rating as president.
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Trump announced in November 2022 that he would run for president again and is still the lead candidate in the Republican Party’s 2024 primary race. His lead comes despite him facing a multitude of legal battles while on the campaign trail.
After winning last month’s Iowa caucuses and New Hampshire primary, Trump will face off against former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley in the South Carolina primary this Saturday. Haley previously served as the governor of South Carolina, though multiple lawmakers from the Palmetto State, including Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC) and Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC), have endorsed Trump ahead of the primary.